Movies that Matter, the Hague-based human rights festival running April 8-16 in cinemas across The Netherlands and online will, within its presentation of 80+ docs, showcase urgent films from and about Afghanistan that deserve more attention in light of recent events within, and concerning, the country. The theme is titled Take on Afghanistan.
The main guests of the festival will be Afghan filmmakers Sahra Mani, Aboozar Amini and Dawood Hilmandi.
“We want to give filmmakers who have to work under particularly difficult circumstances the attention and support they need. Especially now, it is important that independent stories, from a country where censorship rules, reach the entire world,” Margje de Koning, artistic director of Movies that Matter Festival comments.
This year’s edition of Movies that Matter will take place from April 8-16 in the city of The Hague, in cinemas across the Netherlands and online. Over the course of nine days, the festival will present over eighty documentaries and feature films from around the world, along with debates, Q&As and educational programmes.
‘Take on Afghanistan’ guests
One of the main guests of the festival is director Sahra Mani, who fled Kabul in 2021. Her latest film A Thousand Girls Like Me (2019) won more than 25 awards worldwide. Aboozar Amini (Kabul, City in the Wind, 2018) will also be a guest at this year’s festival. One of the few filmmakers to return to Afghanistan after his training, he is one of the emerging talents being part of a new wave of Afghan cinema. The third main guest, Dutch Afghan Dawood Hilmandi, started his film career with Bekhawy (2009) which was screened at IFFR. Among his other projects are the experimental Into Zero Space (2016) and his shorts Arvaksca and 2087, both screened in Cannes in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Other festival ‘Take on…’ themes
Next to the new theme Take on Afghanistan, this year’s festival features several other thematic programmes. Take on Future showcases the dilemmas of the transition to a sustainable future. What will it take to accelerate this? Take on Love is a colourful, diverse, and sparkling themed programme about the right to be yourself and love who you want. In Take on Power, the festival presents films about unequal power relations, and about people who take on forces and structures that seem bigger than themselves. Another new theme is Take on Voices, a crucial programme about freedom of speech, giving voice to journalists, festival organisers, filmmakers, activists, and artists whose freedom of expression is restricted.
Competitions
Launched in 2021, two international juries will decide on the Grand Jury Documentary Award and the Grand Jury Fiction Award, where cinematography and content go hand in hand. Each of these awards come with a 5.000 EUR cash prize.
In addition, the Activist Competition features eight documentaries about the work of human rights activists; Camera Justitia focuses on the importance of the rule of law and the fight against impunity; and Dutch Movies Matter celebrates films from the Netherlands that open eyes to human rights, with this year no less than six world premieres.
For the Students’ Choice Award three films are eligible, chosen by a student jury of the University of Leiden. New this year is the Shorts Competition, highlighting important short films about social issues and human rights.
Throughout the year, Movies that Matter also organises an extensive educational programme for pupils and students with screenings across the Netherlands. A selection of festival films goes On Tour through 18 cities across the country. Movies that Matter also supports the screening of human rights cinema in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East in countries where press freedom is restricted and where human rights are at stake.
